


If It Makes You Happy

by Salmon_I



Series: To the Moon and Back [3]
Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Confessions, Conspiracy Theories, Friendship, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-23
Updated: 2019-02-23
Packaged: 2019-11-04 09:40:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17896079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Salmon_I/pseuds/Salmon_I
Summary: “Ooooh.  Rumors that involve Guerin. I'm starting to see where last night's little escapade came from. Someone's got a jealous streak.”“You called him riff raff. So, is that your take?”Maria frowned, thinking over what she knew.  “He's this mechanical know-it-all cowboy drifter. Part of the town, but not part of the town.  The loner. I mean, if Evans was sheriff instead of deputy their friendship could practically belong in some old western movie with lots of gunfights and someone dying tragically in the end.”“Yah, that somehow doesn't make me feel better.” Alex told her.





	If It Makes You Happy

The cabin did not say Alex Manes to Maria.  It had the potential to say Alex Manes, but there was currently a distinct lack of anything that screamed her friend besides a set of mugs in the dish drainer.  Admittedly, she hadn't peered into his room. If he hadn't bought at least a bedspread of his own she may have to have words about how it was too many weeks into his return to Roswell not to be laying better physical claim on his chosen living space.

A greasy breakfast, black coffee, and a healthy dose of pain medication had cured him of the worst of his hangover.  She'd volunteered for dish duty so he could get cleaned up.

“I bet you projectile vomited in those clothes, and we are not twenty-two anymore, Alex.”

She also knew that he had to be aching from spending a night on the jail floor and wearing his prosthetic too long.  Hot water would ease his stiff muscles - two birds; one stone. It gave her too much time to think though. When Alex had come into the Wild Pony the previous evening she had noted the difference.  This wasn't casual brooding over a guy the way he had been at the ten year anniversary of Rosa's death. He was drinking to drink, and his whole vibe was different. Harsher, colder, with a hint of violence simmering below the surface.  A new side to her old friend, and not a welcome one.

Maria wasn't naive.  One didn't come back from a war untouched.  Alex had lost a piece of himself out there that had nothing to do with his missing limb.  The only noticeable difference until the previous evening had been in a calmness to him. A comfort in his own skin that the boy she'd once known hadn't developed yet. Last night she'd caught sight of the darker side that accompanied his newfound confidence. It wasn't pretty, but nobody's darker side was.

She'd hoped when she shut him down at the Wild Pony he would go home and cool off.  Instead, he'd clearly continued on his quest to drink himself numb, and find a fight.  How he'd gotten into that fight with Deputy Max Evans of all the men in Roswell was a conversation she was not letting him get out of.

A part of her was a bit proud of him for finally cutting loose and blowing off steam.  A part of her was furious at his chosen way to do it. The largest part just wanted answers.

“Admittedly, I feel much more human.”Alex entered the living room, and Maria offered a smile.

“You also look more human.” Maria reassured him.

“Ouch.  You mean I didn't pull off the drunk soldier with a day old stubble look?  I'm hurt.”

Maria swatted his arm as he passed her to take his seat.  “You aren't distracting me, Alex Manes.”

“Promise I'm not trying to.”

“So, are we starting with why you were drinking, or why you picked a fight with Max Evans of all people.  Did the macho showdown have to do with Liz, cuz I never figured you would be siding with Kyle on that one.”

“Liz?” Alex was clearly confused. “I mean, I heard about the shooting, but I thought Liz and Kyle… oh.  Kyle, Liz and Evans.”

“Like high school all over again, just with us legally able to buy the booze.” Maria confirmed. “But you apparently didn't know about it.”

“No, I missed the reinstatement of the painfully awkward love triangle that plagued our teen years.” Alex admitted.

Maria frowned, trying to figure out the pieces to the puzzle Alex was presenting her with.  “So, you weren't being protective of Liz, but you were definitely posturing at Evans this morning. You mentioned his sister, but we both know she's not your type. That leaves…”

Two and two could not be adding up to what she thought it was.  Maria cast about for another explanation, but, nope. There was only one other person that had ever bridged the gap between the two men.  Alex was watching her, waiting. “Alex Manes, I am rescinding your friendship privileges. Didn't notice he got hot my ass!”

“In a sex in the back of a pick up truck kinda way?” Alex quoted at her.

“Well, if you'd told me!”

“Wasn't anything much to tell at that point.”

“Anything much is still something.” Maria argued. “Seriously, did we time warp ten years? Liz is in a love triangle with Kyle and Evans and you're sneaking around…” The last piece of the puzzle clicked into place.  “I really did time warp. We really are back in high school. It was Guerin. The whole time. Mystery guy was Michael Guerin.”

“No time warp, unfortunately.  High School was actually simpler.”

“How come you never got together after the kiss?”

“We did.”

“Shut up.  I can't believe you never told me.”

“Senior year didn't end on a good note.  And neither did the relationship, so…”

“So, did you break up after graduation? Is that what happened?”

“Actually, we didn't break up until I enlisted.  He was pretty pissed about that.”

“Well, I wasn't thrilled about it myself at the time.”

“I asked him to come with me.  Leave Roswell. He said he couldn't.”

“Did you try asking him to, I don’t know, say, wait for you?”

“I thought he'd be long gone.  Remember how smart he was in school?”

“I remember Liz's constant complaints about his GPA being higher than hers, and how dare he beat her test score by 0.4%.”

“Remember when she carried her biology book for a whole week even to lunch because she was so determined to beat his score?”

“She crowed for five straight days when she actually did. Then he beat her at the Pre-calculus pop quiz and it was back to square one.” Maria smiled at the memory.  It seemed ever since Liz had rolled back into town she was spending a lot of time thinking about the past. And here she was doing it again.

“Exactly.  So why is he here, in Roswell, working as a mechanic at a junkyard?”

“He was actually working as a ranch hand til the military bought out his job.” Maria reminded him.

“Tohmato, Tomahto.”

“Statistically speaking, he's hardly the first kid with potential that ended up drinking his problems away instead of at a dream job.  Especially from a poor neighborhood.”

“And a part of me might have dismissed it as that, but… I didn't first run into him again at the reunion or when I pointed him out to you at the Wild Pony.  During the inspection of Foster Ranch before the sale, my men called me out because there was signs of some sort of chemical testing around a trailer. The Rancher said it belonged to one of the his Farm Hands. I look through the window, and inside is a board and papers covered in equations and chemical compositions. Things that looked like they belong on a whiteboard in a science lab, not scribbled all over a trailer in the middle of nowhere. And who do you think turned out to be the owner of said trailer?”

“So, wait.  Guerin was running some, what, secret mad scientist lab out in his trailer?  What for? I mean, what was he researching?”

“I don't know.  When I asked then he gave me some bullshit answer. When I faced him down with the report my engineers gave me at the reunion he rolled his eyes and said they hadn't even identified the chemicals correctly.  Told me to find myself some better engineers.”

“Well, you've been alone with him since, did you ask?”

The look Alex gave her was pure sarcasm.  “Really, Maria? You think when we were alone in his trailer together his mind was the muscle I wanted him flexing?”

“Point made.” Maria held up her hands in surrender.  Well, if she was wondering if Alex was getting any from Guerin, there was the answer.  Although, with Liz and Kyle hooking up that meant both her reunited best friends were getting some and she wasn't.  How was that fair? “I need a drink.” She invaded the cabin's small kitchen for refreshment. “So what do you think the real story is? Why is Guerin playing mad scientist in the desert when he could have put himself through college like a normal person and have a real lab?” She called out as she opened two bottles in the kitchen.

“That's the part I can't work out.  But I'm almost positive it involves the Evans twins.” Alex called back.

“Hence your drunken fight with Deputy Evans.” Marian returned to the main room and handed him a drink as well.

Alex looked at the bottle.  “Soda? Really?”

”Drunk and Disorderly citation, really?” Maria countered.  “You owe me five hundred dollars by the way.”

Alex choked on his first sip.  “Crap, five hundred dollars? How the hell does Guerin afford that weekly?”

“Pretty sure the Evans pay it for him.”

“And we're back to the strangely codependent friendship between Guerin and the Evans.” Alex leaned forward. “You've been here while I've been away.  What's your take on them all?”

Maria frowned. “On the surface, Max Evans story is simple.  Lawyer's son and all around nice guy stays in hometown, joins the local law force. Lack of wife is odd for a small town, but evidence points to him still pining for the one who got away.  Plus, hey, his stepford wife twin married a lawyer in Daddy's law firm so the pressure is probably off him to settle down.”

“And now I feel like I'm in a time warp.” Alex gave her a pointed look.

“What?” Maria feigned innocence.

“You - talking smack about Isobel Evans.  Shouldn't that have ended at graduation?”

“Evans-Bracken.” Maria corrected.  “For now anyhow. Maybe not for long, given current rumors.”

“Seriously?” Alex scowled at her.

“Ooooh.  Rumors that involve Guerin. I'm starting to see where last night's little escapade came from. Someone's got a jealous streak.”

“You called him riff raff. So, is that your take?”

Maria frowned, thinking over what she knew.  “He's this mechanical know-it-all cowboy drifter. Part of the town, but not part of the town.  The loner. I mean, if Evans was sheriff instead of deputy their friendship could practically belong in some old western movie with lots of gunfights and someone dying tragically in the end.”

“Yah, that somehow doesn't make me feel better.” Alex told her.  He slumped back with a sigh.

“Well, you kinda threw down a challenge at Evans this morning.  With the bagel thing. What was that?”

“Isobel Evans-Bracken kinda spoiled our morning after by showing up with bagels to Guerin's place.”

“So she knows about you two?”

“No, I told him it would be an issue and he went outside to meet her to keep her in the dark.”

Maria closed her eyes and reminded herself that in general men were idiots about these things. “Alex, do you know how that sounds?”

“I know, I know!  Or I realized it after it left my mouth.  Don't give me that look. That's why I ambushed him at the drive in during the fundraiser.  He was planning on leaving and I figured - what could be more small town first date than a drive in movie?”

“Literally anything not so teenage?”

“We never got to have typical teenage dates.”  Alex reminded her. “If we'd tried back then we probably would have ended our night beat up by Kyle and his buddies.”

“Point, again. So how come you two didn't end that night at the Crash Down Cafe splitting a milkshake?”

“Because reality crashed into the nostalgia haze we had wrapped ourselves up in.  Who we are now came up, and… I ended things.”

Maria could literally feel the headache forming. “Okay, so, the fact that Guerin plays it loose and fast came up and you told him that you couldn't accept that in a partner.  Then you got so jealous over the suggestion of him with someone else you literally got yourself arrested for drunken behavior. Then proceeded to get in a macho standoff with his best friend and proceeded to suggest you were still with the guy.  See how that really isn't adding up to any kind of sense?”

“I know.”

Maria sighed.  Setting down her drink she came to kneel in front of him, taking his hand. “Alright, let's try this.  Tell me what it's like between you two. Not the facts, not the who we were and who we are shit. Tell me how it feels when you're together.”

“It feels like… there's no missing pieces.  When it's just the two of us, everything is right. It all works; it all fits. We fit.” Alex's eyes grew distant as he talked, seeing scenes from another time and place. “There's this look he gets in his eyes when he looks at me.  As if I am everything he's ever wanted. As if I'm the answer to the damn universe.” His eyes refocused and he looked back at her. “And when he looks at me like that, it takes me back to the first time he looked at me like that when we were seventeen.  And all the crap falls away, and I am... completely unafraid. I feel like I could do anything as long as he keeps looking at me.”

Maria took a deep breath and blinked back tears at the sheer weight of his confession.  “Alex freaking Manes, please know it comes from a place of love when I tell you that you are a complete and utter idiot. People wait their whole lives to feel something like that! Love isn't easy, Alex.  It isn't simple. It isn't going to last just because you want it to. You have to work for it. You have to fight for it. Fight tooth and nail and never give up. Cuz a feeling like that? It's worth fighting for.”

“...how do you always know just what to say?”

“It's part of the my charm.” Maria smiled up at him.

“Well, if I'm going to fight tooth and nail for Michael Guerin, I may need some back up.”

“Don't worry, I promise I'm the best wingwoman ever.”

Alex laughed, reversing the hold on their hands and giving hers a squeeze. “But first, I need to figure out his secret.  His, and possibly the Evans. You in?”

“Uncovering small town secrets? Try and stop me.” Wiping her eyes, she stood.  “Better not have ruined my make-up. I swear.”

“There is one more thing.” Alex admitted.

“It won't make me cry again, will it?”

“Help me move this.” He stood, reaching for the coffee table.

“You want help rearranging your furniture?  I don't remember signing up for manual labor.” Maria teased him, but quickly moved her drink off the table and leaned down to help him.  When the table was moved, however, all she could do was stare at the hatch revealed below. “What in the world…”

“I know, trust me.” Alex kneeled to start unlocking it.

“Okay, this is the part in the horror movie when the audience starts screaming ‘No, don't do that’.”

“And that, there, is why we're friends.”. Alex told her as he opened the door to reveal a ladder leading downward.

“They're aren't literal skeletons down there, are there?”

“No, there's not.”

“What is down there?”

“...small town secrets.”

Maria eyed the hatch warily.  She trusted Alex completely. But secret bunkers in old log cabins?  She was pretty sure those scenarios never ended well in the movies. “Why don't you go first?”

Alex chuckled, and started down the ladder. “Just trust me, you have to see this to believe it.”

The room below only added to her confusion.  “Alex, what freaky cabin did you buy?”

“It was left to me by Valenti.”

“Jim Valenti? Kyle's father??”

“The same.”

“Please tell me the world isn't ending.  Cuz this looks like something people build when the world is ending.”

“Not as far as I know of.” The words were less than reassuring under the circumstances.  “Kyle came here. Trying to find something. Maria, he said he and Liz have been looking into Rosa's death.”

And she should have known.  A part of her had known - when Liz had become so determined to find Rosa's hiding spots.  To uncover her secrets. It didn't make it hurt less. “Why?”

“Kyle says Liz has questions.”

“And she goes to Kyle with them?” Maria looked over at him, confused.  Kyle hadn't even known Rosa that well - so what answers could he offer?

“Kyle would have had access to her autopsy. I think they found something.  Something that made them question how Rosa died.”

“No.  No, Rosa's death was… I let her leave with that bottle,  Alex. It was cut and dry. If it wasn't, it would have come up sooner.  Liz would have said something. She would have told me, or you, or…”. Maria turned away, taking a deep breath. She hadn't thought Rosa's death could still affect her like this.  Thought she'd come to terms with it. Alex let her regain her composure, but her thoughts still felt like they were trapped in a whirlwind. “Liz has been obsessed ever since she came back to town.  We found things Rosa hid. Notes we didn't know the senders of. A bus ticket for the day after she died.”

“Kyle had some crazy theory about Rosa having an affair with his father.”

“What?  That's insane.” Maria protested.

“I know.  What we found hinted at something else.” He nodded to the trunk at the foot of the bed.

Maria knelt down but hesitated to open it.  Her hands shook when she finally lifted the lid and peered inside.  She trailed her fingers along the stuffed animals and blankets in a gentle manner before picking up the picture.  “This is Rosa. The rose on the blanket was the one she always drew.”

“Kyle thinks Rosa was Valenti's daughter.  His half sister. He thinks he helped her detox here, in this room.”

Maria set the picture back in the trunk and shut it firmly. “His wife has never liked the Ortechos.  Maybe this is why. Small Town secrets. Is this what you wanted me to see?”

“Actually, there's one more.” He moved to where a blanket hung on the side of the wall by the standing lamp, and drew it back to reveal a hole.

“Oh, that's never good in the movies.”. Maria mentioned.

Alex pulled something out.  It looked like some type of multi-colored glass.  He held it out to her and Maria moved forward slowly to take it in her hand.  Despite its appearance it was hard and cold like metal. Alex reached out to swipe a hand across it and symbols appeared, glowing gold in the shadows of the bunker's soft lights.  “Valenti hid this here. And I think he meant for me to find it.”

Completely at a loss for words, Maria wondered for the first time what the hell she'd gotten herself into.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Maria was probably my favorite character in the old series, and in the reboot she is very close to stealing that spot again. I want to write a friendship scene that includes Liz, too, but haven't figure out the scenario yet.
> 
> I'm trying to leave certain details of the past vague until we discover more on the actual show. Though I have no doubt it will prove a pointless effort by next episode, and all my headcanons will be disproven. I'm enjoying writing this immensely.  I haven't been this inspired by a series in a while.


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